The Mystery of Rufford Abbey, Book Review

This review of The Mystery of Rufford Abbey by Stephen Taylor appeared previously in the May 2023 issue of Historical Novels Review. The tagline on the cover describes this unusual book as “A dual timeline adventure with a paranormal twist.” That’s a pretty good description. (Sapere Books, 287pp)

Psychological thriller in two eras

Most of this psychological thriller takes place in the modern day amid abductions of women. The novel follows a team of police detectives as they try to solve the most recent disappearance, but they have few leads. There’s no ransom demand, no body, and no crime scene. Gradually, the police use contemporary tools like CCTV to make progress, but this clever criminal covers his tracks at key moments.

The medieval side of The Mystery of Rufford Abbey

Interspersed with this modern crime is a medieval tale of a young woman who goes berry picking and instead accidently time travels. Beside a modern highway, she observes a man and woman doing things that she is ill-equipped to interpret. A monk chronicles her story. Those chronicles are uncovered in an English Heritage property and handed off to a medievalist to translate. The reader recognizes that what this medieval woman saw is relevant to the unfolding police case. The historian is as reluctant as the police to believe in a time-traveling medieval witness, but women’s lives are at stake and the only solid clues are coming from someone who’s been dead for 900 years. This premise makes for some twisty excitement.

Details and Style

The spareness of detail in most of the portions set within the medieval period feels acceptably suitable since they are presented as passages from the historian’s translation of the chronicles, and thus reflect that direct, brief style. Repetitions of lengthy and somewhat heavy-handed psychological analysis occasionally slowed the modern crime sections of the novel. Ironically, the details of the modern villain’s florid criminal actions at times strained believability, while the time-travel was persuasively handled. For readers who like both modern crime thrillers and historical stories, this provides a good combination.

Further Reading

If you’d like to read The Mystery of Rufford Abbey, you can find it on Amazon.

If you’d like to read more about the author, you might enjoy Stephen Taylor’s website.

If you’re interested in reading another dual timeline (set in 1951 & 2018), psychological thriller you might enjoy my review of One Puzzling Afternoon.